gabriel resources
RONTO, June 29 (Reuters) - Gabriel Resources Ltd will seek $4.4 billion in damages from Romania for losses related to its long-stalled Rosia Montana gold mine project in a claim that the Canadian miner plans to file Friday with a World Bank Tribunal.
Gabriel, whose project has been in the works for 18 years, will argue that Romania violated several investment treaty provisions in its claim to the bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes.
The miner's project, near the village of Rosia Montana, was expected to produce 500,000 ounces of gold annually over 16 years of operation, making it Europe's largest gold mine.
"The issue we've had in Romania is the project has been over-politicized. Politics has got in the way of progress," Chief Executive Jonathan Henry said in a phone interview.
The government withdrew its support for the project in 2014, striking down a bill to allow the development after nationwide protests by thousands of people across the country in 2013.
The mine, which would dig four open pits, is 80.69 percent owned by Gabriel with Romania's state miner holding the remaining 19.31 percent.
Civil rights and environment groups opposing the mine argued it would destroy ancient Roman mining shafts in the Rosia Montana village, its surrounding hillsides and pose an environmental risk from the cyanide used to process ore, a normal industry practice.
Gabriel filed a request for arbitration with the World Bank in 2015, but it said the government had not responded to its notice of dispute or request for arbitration.
"We are claiming that Romania has expropriated our project and we are left with no alternative but to seek compensation," said Henry.
Gabriel, which has invested some $700 million in Romania, was first granted an exploration licence in June, 1999. With no other mines, Gabriel will decide its plans after the case concludes. A hearing is scheduled Sept. 9 to 20, 2019.
The project has potential to generate $24 billion for the country's economy, Gabriel estimates.
First a mining district more than 2,000 years ago, Rosia Montana has suffered from "severe environmental degradation," Gabriel argues.
Romania, a member of the World Bank and European Union, is one of Europe's poorest countries, despite rich natural resources including gas, coal and gold.
g uk no link
Kit Gillet in Bucharest
Friday 14 July 2017 02.10 EDT Last modified on Friday 14 July 2017 02.12 EDT
Romania has served a Canadian mining company with a $8.6m back taxes bill days after the company filed a $4.4bn compensation claim over a stalled project in the country.Gabriel Resources tried for more than 18 years to get necessary permits for an opencast mine to extract Europe’s largest gold deposits from beneath the village of Ro?ia Montana in the Apuseni mountains.
Romanian village blocks Canadian firm from mining for gold
Read more
But the project was halted in 2013 after tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets for three weeks of mass protests. The government withdrew its support in 2014 and in 2017 submitted the village and its surrounding area for inclusion on Unesco’s World Heritage list, effectively killing off the mine.
Late last month, Gabriel Resources announced that it would sue Romania at a World Bank tribunal for $4.4bn in alleged losses, alleging multiple breaches of international investment treaties. If its case is successful, the payout would be worth around 2% of the country’s projected GDP for 2017
Days later, Romania announced the outstanding tax bill for VAT related to the purchase of goods and services between 2011 and 2016, and warned that the company could also be liable for millions more in interest and penalties.
Gabriel Resources said it viewed the actions of the Romanian authorities as “plainly retaliatory” and said the timing was “not a coincidence”. In a press statement, CEO Jonathan Henry said that the tax bill had been launched in order to “frustrate the company’s pursuit of its international arbitration case against Romania”.
The village of Ro?ia Montana sits on an estimated 314 tonnes of gold and the project would have been Europe’s biggest gold mines. The mine faced sustained opposition from environmental and civil society groups.
Opening it would have involved heavy use of cyanide and would have turned a nearby valley into a tailings dam holding up to 250 million tons of cyanide-laced waste from the gold leaching. It would also have destroyed four mountain peaks, nearby villages, and a series of 1,900-year-old Roman mining galleries.
“It was a big environmental threat,” said Tudor Bradatan, a founding member of Mining Watch Romania. “The sheer size of the project was way too big, and the planned use of cyanide created lots of environmental issues. And just visually it was an environmental disaster,” he added.
Bradatan said that, until recently, successive Romanian governments had been favourably disposed to Gabriel Resources. “It felt for a long time like it was untouchable. Perhaps this tax is just a sign some authorities are working in Romania.”
A spokesperson for the Romania tax agency did not respond to a request for comment.
Gabriel Resources
www.gabrielresources.com/
2.
Gabriel Resources Ltd is a Canadian TSX-listed resource company focused ... 2015 which addresses the dispute with Romania regarding the development of ...
Contact · Rosia Montana · Officers · Directors
Canada's Gabriel Resources to seek $4.4 bln in damages from Romania
https://www.cnbc.com/.../reuters-america-canadas-gabriel-resources-to-seek-4-point-4...
1.
Jun 29, 2017 - TORONTO, June 29- Gabriel Resources Ltd will seek $4.4 billion in damages fromRomania for losses related to its long-stalled Rosia Montana ...
Canada's Gabriel Resources sues Romania for $4.4bn over halted ...
www.mining.com/canadas-gabriel-resources-sues-romania-4-4bn-halted-mine/
1.
Jun 29, 2017 - Canada's Gabriel Resources (TSX:GBU) is suing Romania for $4.4 billion in alleged losses over its long-stalled Rosia Montana gold and silver ...
Gabriel Resources Ltd. and Gabriel Resources (Jersey) v. Romania ...
https://www.italaw.com/cases/4721
1.
Gabriel Resources Ltd. and Gabriel Resources (Jersey) v. Romania, ICSID Case No. ARB/15/31. Case type: International Investment Agreement. Applicable ...
Romania hits Canadian firm with $9m 'retaliatory' tax bill over gold ...
https://www.theguardian.com › World › Romania
1.
Jul 14, 2017 - Move comes after Gabriel Resources sues government for $4.4bn over failed bid to establish goldmine in Apuseni mountains.